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Greetings from VKMfanHuey!!!

Welcome to the Gingerology blog for the 1931 Paramount film, Honor Among Lovers!!!

Ginger portrays the character of Doris Brown, in a very limited role as 'comic relief', along with her boyfriend Monte Dunn (Charlie Ruggles); the film plot concerns itself with a classic 'love triangle' with secretary Julie Traynor (Claudette Colbert), her fiancee-to-be Philip Craig (Monroe Owsley), and her boss, Jerry Stafford (Fredrick March).

Please note the 'menu' above, which has various information regarding the film; to the right (just below the Gingerology link) there are additional links regarding the film.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any general info, links, pics, or just to say hi!

...And be sure to check out our 'main' site, Gingerology - just click on the Ginger pic to the right. There you'll find a list of ALL of Ginger Rogers' films; click on any one, and you will be directed to a 'dedicated' blog about that film (not unlike this blog).

Gingery Goodness Factor (1-10):
(1.0) - Ginger used to say, "There are no small roles, only small
actors". Well, the role of Doris Brown stretches that axiom to its
limit, as Ginger is given 4 or 5 lines for the whole movie... and the
character is about as 'airheaded' as you can get, with NO real depth or
sassiness whatsoever. In essence, Ginger's role here is for 'brief comic
relief', but that occurs in just a few short scenes. This role is
honestly Ginger's 'least', thus will most likely hold down the lowest
GGF ranking for the duration of these reviews - well, I suppose 'zero'
would be the LOWEST, but I give it a one just for the simple act of
casting Ginger in ANY capacity.

GingerFilm Ranking: #5 of (5) Reviewed

Film Quality (1-10): (7.5) - Pretty fuzzy, but fair audio, and not many noticeable 'skips'.

Available From: eBay (maybe)

Huey's Review forGingerology:
Ginger's fifth film is, as mentioned, has Ginger in a VERY limited
capacity. The movie itself is not bad, as it is the old 'love triangle'
theme, as two dudes vie for the affection of lovely Miss Julie Traynor
(Claudette Colbert). In one corner is Julie's boss, Jerry Stafford
(Fredric March), and in the other corner is Philip Craig (Monroe
Owsley), who has been Julie's 'steady' for some time.Jerry takes
Julie's title 'personal secretary' quite literally, as he is all up in
her business constantly; Julie just dismisses it as part of the 'work
experience'. Meanwhile, Philip has finally gotten up enough moxie to ask
for Julie's hand in marriage, which she accepts. Of course, upon
hearing of this, Jerry congratulates her, then promptly fires her.But
in a weird connection, Jerry entrusts gobs of his money to Philip to
invest...and it pays off well, for awhile. Of course, the bottom falls
out (as most stock-trading stuff seems to do in early 30's cinema,
natch) and Philip is freaking out since he lost all of Jerry's clams in a
bad deal.Julie goes to Jerry to plea bargain, as only she could...
but Jerry somehow keeps things 'above board' since she is now a married
woman... from there, Philip just freaks out further, gunfire occurs,
stories are corroborated, and all the usual suspects are rounded up...
and the ending is for you to discover.Overall, a pretty fair movie,
but Ginger is just not well utilized at all... even in her 'comedy
relief' role as Doris 'what's-her-name' - the 'fiancee' of Jerry's
employee/broker/yes-man Monty Dunn (Charlie Ruggles), there should have
been a bit more 'dialogue' or whatever... but the film itself was
definitely a 'melodrama', so her scenes were few and far between. Again,
I really dig Claudette, so it's definitely a good watch... but Ginger
moves on to MUCH greener pastures after this role, y'all...VKMfanHuey---Favorite Ginger Line(s) / Moment(s):
Of the four or five lines Ginger is allowed to utter in this film, the
'cutest' is when someone asks her what her last name is, and she goes
into a detailed background of her family tree and the variations of
surnames, before Monty cuts her off and succinctly announces,"Her last
name is Brown."...Ginger's
first (and to my knowledge, ONLY) 'silent' scene... no dialogue at ALL
in her first appearance...a foreshadowing of the remainder of her role
in the film, unfortunately..."...hmmm...wonder if those guys from RKO-Pathe will be calling again soon...""...I hope Lelee will be willing to move to Cali...""...I think she'll be OK with it...as long as they don't make me bleach my hair or anything..."...And
another smooch on the snoot for Ginger...was there some kind of law
back then that you couldn't kiss a female on the lips until she reached
21? Hays wasn't afoot then, so, maybe a mandate from Lelee? No matter,
as it's pretty cute anyway...As
usual, here are a few 'promo' pics gleaned from various books...a big
'source' for me is 'The Films of Ginger Rogers' by Homer Dickens...it's
an awesome book, a MUST for any Gingerologist... again, they are on the
'grainy' side, but hopefully are 'clear' enough to be discernible -
DEFINITELY better than some screen shots......as a 'side note', doesn't Charles Ruggles remind you just a bit of William Powell?

Other Reviews:
"Claudette Colbert and Fredric March in the leading roles have been
provided with ideal roles and give finished performances. Other
outstanding players are Charles Ruggles and Ginger Rogers." -Motion
Picture Herald.

"Mr. March makes his part as believable as it is
humanly possible. Mr. Ruggles furnished some good comedy when he had the
opportunity. Mr. Owsley does good work and Miss Colbert is excellent."
-The New York Times

FromGinger: My Story:
"The fifth film I did for Paramount was Honor Among Lovers with
Claudette Colbert and Fredric March. Charlie Ruggles and I were the
comic relief in the story of a business executive and his secretary.
This time, the director was the talented Dorothy Arzner, one of the few
female directors in the movies at that time."

Miscellaneous Stuff:--- The movie was shot in French and Spanish versions.--- Fredric
March was reported to be very taken with Claudette Colbert, to the
point of being a 'burden' for Colbert when working with him.--- Working titles for the film included 'Strictly Business', 'Sex in Business', and 'Another Man's Wife'.

GingerFilm 'rankings' through FIVE reviews:#1: Queen High;#2: Young Man of Manhattan;#3: The Sap from Syracuse;#4: Follow The Leader;#5: Honor Among Lovers.

Up Next:
"The Tip-Off" - Ginger's first movie with RKO (well, at that point it
is RKO-Pathe) is, as I remember, a GOOD bit more Gingery, so looking
forward to it... it's her transition from Broadway to Hollywood, which
seemed to work out quite well... the film is a typical 'light gangster'
movie from the late 20's - early 30's... and is ultimately more of a
comedy. Eddie Quillian and Robert Armstrong co-star.

4 comments:

I
would buy a film like this, if re-released in decent quality. I accept
films with Claude Colbert anyway, and as Ginger is in there, her few
lines would be an even greater pleasure.

Who else would review a
film like this, if you didn't? So it's really grand what you're doing
here. Later you can even label all your reviews, so people can find them
all. For example like this: 1929-1932; 1933-1935; 1936-1938 &ct.
...

I never saw this film, but that family tree scene seems to be
very funny. So if Ginger shone in just this scene, it may have helped
her to go ahead to fame......

Did
Ginger appear in the French or Spanish versions, or did another actress
take her role? (I have no idea whether she knew either language,
although the dialogue could have been supplied to her phonetically, as
Hal Roach did for a few Laurel & Hardy films made in
foreign-language versions.) Colbert certainly was cast in the French
version, as she was fluent in the language. (Interesting comments about
her and March, BTW; of course, they would reunite the following year for
"The Sign Of The Cross.")

Not long after "Honor Among Lovers"
was released, the practice of filming versions in other languages faded
out, as dubbing took the place.

I like your review, Huey! Thanks for adding the "up next" section--not quite so much anticipation involved as before!

This
is long over-due, but (I don't know if I have said this before) I love
your header photo. It's such a nice blast of color. It goes
wonderfully with the lime green (that's my second fav. color...second
only to pink!). Did you say Maria did that for you?

CS:
It is a pretty good movie overall...the plot is not too different from a
couple other movies Ginger was in not long after this one, 'Broadway
Bad' (w/Joan Blondell) and 'Upper World'... different 'players', but
generally the same 'love triangle turned tragic' scenario. I LUV
Claudette, so that is a big plus here. Ginger is cute, but has to be
UBER ditzy here, which is just not TRUE Ginger.Glad that folks are
liking these reviews! Heck, just learning details about each movie is
making me a better 'Gingerologist', but hopefully in the process folks
are enjoying these, too!

VP: I am not sure how they did the
'alternate languages' for it... I guess the actors had to shoot it all
the other languages... I've really never thought of that prior to the
'dub' and 'sub' methods. Ginger knew a bit of French, in later years for
sure (she married that French Gooberhead #4 hubby of hers, ya know) -
and I've seen a few interviews where she is speaking French, although
not 'fluently' (but dang sure better than I ever could, y'all!) -
anyway, with the few lines she had in this one, it should not have been a
problem. As for Fredrick and Cludette, his 'intensity' was also evident
on the set of 'Sign of the Cross' - well, according to wherever I read
it from... honestly, I need to remember my sources... must have been
'wiki'.

PG: Hopefully the 'next review' feature will keep the
reviews flowing and connected... for the next movie 'The Tip-Off' - I've
already watched about the first 10 minutes of it, and it's already most
likely #1 with a bullet over the Paramount films... something about RKO
flicks that are just COOL to me... guess the 'GingerFactor' has
something to do with it, ya think? ;-] As for the header pic - yup,
that is a colorized one from Maria - honestly not sure how to get in
touch with her - I think CS has corresponded with her some way, and I
also think she has a 'YouTube' site or whatever... but she is just
incredible at that stuff! She was taking 'requests' for pics to
colorize, and I 'submitted' that one, cause I thought the gold lame
would be cool against my green settings... and I am proud to say my
theory was dead-on! She was gracious enough to let me use it... notice
the bottom left has her sig on it... cool, cool stuff.